“I was going to make chai this morning, as the cooler weather is making me want cozy teas, but I saw a picture of the new sugar plum tea and saw the star anise and decided I’d rather have a...”
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From DAVIDsTEA

Wish upon a star

Star anise is one of the most beautiful spices around…and also one of the most delicious. It has a sweet, subtle licorice taste that we just can’t resist. And some say it has magical properties: keeping star anise around is said to bring you good luck, happy dreams and even clairvoyance. Most importantly, it makes for some seriously delicious tea. Star anise and Ceylon black tea is a classic combination, but here we sweeten the deal even more with white chocolate, cocoa nibs and coconut. The result is sweet and creamy, with a hint of exotic spice. Now that’s star power.

133 Tasting Notes

Dry Leaf Nose: Sweet, star anise is supported by a cocoa note and the aroma of good Ceylon black tea.

Liquor: Golden brown with a slight cloud.

Flavour: Comforting and familiar, yet cutting edge and new at the same time. The tea notes are enhanced and supported by the anise while the cocoa lingers in the background. The coconut adds a body and sweetness to the liquor.

I’ve been drinking a lot of samples from DAVIDsTEA lately, and I’ve noticed something—a lot of their blends, especially the black ones, have a distinctive taste. I can’t at all put my finger on what it is, but it’s like an underlying current through all their blends. I wonder if they add something specific to accomplish this or if it’s just an aspect of their flavoring?

Anyway, on to this tea! Star anise seems to be a divisive flavor, but I like it. Just a hint of licorice, not too much, and a chai-like spice aspect. This blend utilizes it nicely, though there are HUGE pieces in there it’s not overwhelming. It’s a lightly chocolatey blend though there’s double chocolate in here so of course that’s to be expected! I’m not tasting any coconut though, but that’s not a negative—if I want coconut I reach for a coconut blend, not a star anise one! Overall this is a nice blend, pretty unique in some aspects but that underlying DT flavor doesn’t make it stand out as much as it could.

Preparation

I’ve wanted to try this one since people began to post notes about it here on Steepster; the coconut, chocolate and star anise pairing had me intrigued. The last teas I tried with anise was Merry Cranberry and, while I wasn’t a huge fan of it initially, I’ve been craving to try it or something similar again since I ran out. Today I bought a 50 gram bag of this on impulse so I guess I better like it a little..

Wet leaves are 90% anise but the liquor has a pleasant cocoa scent. The flavour seems to be a compromise between the two with a dash of creamy coconut. The coconut and the chocolate components add a natural creamy sweetness while the anise gives it a soft licorice-like nip. I added some milk to my second cup and I’m picking up some discrete chocolate orange notes. There’s no orange in the tea so I don’t know where that comes from- probably the Ceylon?

From the remnants of a can that I should probably throw out, I added some pure warm coconut milk to my remaining glass which really just acts to strengthen the already present coconut, as well as to ascent the astringency and spiciness. Not noticing the chocolate orange bit anymore.

Despite my animosity to all things licorice I really enjoyed the pot of this with my kimchi soup. I don’t think I’d drink this regularly because of the anise but I definitely wouldn’t pass it by if it was offered.

Preparation

Ok, so, redo on the Ceylon Star this morning. My brewing, my sweetener, my milk (not soy this time) and it is way better than it was yesterday. I wanted to try it bare this morning, but it was too hot, and I was in too much of a hurry to get out the door, so I gave it my usual treatment. I still have enough from the 6g bag to make one more steep.

The flavour is definitely a little complex, probably due to the star anise, but still relatively mild. I can pick up some of the white chocolate and coconut tones underneath the star anise which seems to meld well with the cocoa tones and the tea. It’s a complicated tea, but simple too. It definitely isn’t overly licorice tasting. If anything, it tastes a little like a vanilla and coconut like chai…or like a chai vanilla milkshake. There is that creamy taste in here.

I do like this, but I don’t know if I will repurchase or not. I might get one bag and see what I think, but there are others I like better. We’ll see once I finish a few more of my bags and make more space on my wall.

I really like black licorice (Yeah. I’m that person.) So tea with anise sounded heavenly. Especially without any of the typical masala chai spices.

I brewed this a little strong (about one teaspoon for five ounces of water), because I have an issue with non-fruity Davids blends turning out really sad if I don’t.

I’m really torn on this tea. I don’t taste any coconut. At all. And the chocolate does leave that kind not-so-good-but-not-quite-horrible articial aftertaste. But the hard hitting anise followed by a cocoa sweetness is so good. It’s like drinking really mild black licorice and then eating a Hershey’s kiss.

It kind of fails as an anise/coconut/chocolate mix because one third of that is just…missing. And if I was looking for a chocolate tea, this wouldn’t be it either. But I’m actually really, really surprised how much I like this and it’s licorice-y goodness.

I really didn’t think the flavors were all over, mostly because I only really picked up the tea, cocoa, and anise. I don’t think it was what it set out to be, for sure, but in the end I liked it for the anise more than anything.

I love black licorice, and I really wanted to love this tea because it smells so good steeping, but I thought this was such an odd tasting tea. I would have liked it much better without the chocolate in it.

It was odd. But good odd for me, so I’m not complaining :) Honestly, I would really love something like a black tea base with licorice and orange. Which probably sounds really weird, but ornage sherbet with Good n Plenties is pretty much awesome.

Tea #2 from Another TTB
I had this last night as dessert:) I was hesitant because I am not a fan of licorice tastes and star anise. Yet when I leafed it out I got a whole piece of Anise. This made me hesitant. As it steeped oh boy that was all you could smell. But oh my!!!! I loved it! No notes of anise except the scent! This is creamy goodness. This was perfect for a below freezing night:) and oh man the coconut! Most everyone knows my devoted love to coconut! The pairing of both chocolates is heavenly!!!! I would definitely recommend this to chocolate lovers! Even though the white chocolate is more apparent it is still oh so scrumptious. Do not let the anise scare you. It warms this cup up but leaves no taste on the tongue! Yummy! I might have to keep this behind. :)

I got this in a swap from Tealizzy and I just saw her write about it and how much she likes it so I thought it was a good time to try it out. I didn’t know what Anise was, but upon googling realized I probably shouldn’t have requested this tea. I stand firmly on the “Black licorice is one of the worst flavor in the whole wide world” side of the fence. But, I already had the sample all queued up so might as well try it.

Wow! This is pretty good! I took a sip of it plain and the licorice flavor was there, not strong but still present. Then I added some milk and honey per Tealizzy’s instructions and the licorice flavor was gone and just a yummy creamy spicy tea remained. Not too heavy not too light. I’m diggin it!

Thanks Tealizzy!

update I used my whole sample to make big pot of this an guzzled it down. It’s going on the order list. I want more right now. Yum.

one of my many samples from davids.
(i’ve been hoarding them all up, for emergencies)http://instagram.com/p/Wh6qBZIc__/
i didn’t expect this tea to be this delicious! i mean i’m not gonna go buy some asap or anything, but i didn’t expect it to taste so fancy.
it still reminds me a bit of Stormy Night or basically any of Davids chocolate/coconut/vanilla teas. and it’s a yum.

First off, I should say I LOVE ceylon! I also despise anything remotely licoricey. So with that in mind…

This is the perfect balance of sweet coconutty, chocolatey, creamy goodness, with just enough of the anise undertone to round it out. Fantastic as a latte too!

I’ve been struggling for weeks now to keep this tea a secret, because the wonderful folks at head office sent me an incredibly generous sample after I sent in an email asking for their input for a tea-related show name for my pony, Java. Well, Java grew quite the fan club at DT HQ, and among the name suggestions was “Ceylon Star”. I really liked it, and it suits him, because he is very sweet but still has a sassy edge to him, he has a big white star on his forehead, and we both enjoy a nice cup of ceylon. So the lovely folks at head office sent us some of this “secret tea” to try, and both Java and I fell in love! Thus, “Ceylon Star”, the pony, was born! haha!

You really should try this one though. I don’t taste licorice exactly, it’s almost…malty? I really can’t figure out how to describe it. The smell of licorice makes me nauseous, but this has none of the licoricey smell that you’d expect from a tea containing star anise.

I know! i’ve been getting texts/emails/facebook messages about it all day! There’s even a thread about it on the discussion board! He got an extra special treat of Ceylon Star, oatmeal, bran, alfalfa pellets, and applesauce today to celebrate. so spoiled

thanks so much Crow Kettle, for sharing a bit of this one! There was an entire star of anise in my infuser: I suppose that is why they call it ‘Ceylon Star’! Also some chocolate, big coconut flakes and really black and twisty leaves. Steeped, the cup is a very light brown and very cloudy. I think I steeped for five minutes, I kind of expected more of an anise/licorice flavor. There isn’t much! There is more of a coconut flavor, but that was because there were so many coconut flakes! There wasn’t much of a chocolate flavor either, but I like the combination of flavors… I just wish there was more! The second steep I poured right after boiling and it does have more anise. I like it combined with the coconut… it helps smooth it out.